From cuckoo spit to goosegogs #30dayswild

Whatever the weather, its’s always better to be outside than in, sucking in great lungfuls of sweet, fresh air, feeling the cheeky wind on my face and, so far this summer, splashing through deep, muddy puddles. That’s why I signed up for #30dayswild.

It’s the idea of the Wildlife Trusts, do something, anything, each day in June to celebrate nature. Their rather wonderful website gives suggestions, ranging from watching the setting sun to (one of my favourites) napping in nature. They even produced a virtual pack of cards to deal out ideas, though I wasn’t short of ideas!

I decided that each day I’d take a wild photograph and tweet it, with the added bonus that by the end of the month, I’d have have an even number of photographs to make into a wild montage. It was a wonderful challenge which make me open my eyes to what nature had to offer, whether I was in the garden (easy), the allotment (easy peasey) or work (are you kidding?!)

The biggest challenge was what to photograph at work, that brick and concrete sprawlopolis perched on the south of the city. My nature experience so far had been slipping in dog poo and landing in the hedge, so this would definitely test my creativity. To my surprise, I found wild orchids on the scruffy waste land, feverfew growing beside the pavement and cuckoo spit (the frothy nymph of the froghopper) on the lavender planted by urban planners to mask the man-made brick.

Nearer home I was delighted by our resident ant colony, visiting bees and curious cat. The allotment threw up potatoes, onions and goosegogs (gooseberries for those outside Yorkshire, unless you’re in Brazil or Japan where there isn’t a gooseberry to be had). I discovered Percy the Peacock who hangs around the village, showing off and bothering the neighbours, and found that even moss growing in pavement cracks can look pretty.

It was a glorious month of wildness. I’ll be doing it again next year.